Kabuto's Thoughts

Early the next morning, Hui was still fast asleep when she heard Naruto's shrieking; it served as a more than effective morning alarm.

Startled awake, Hui tumbled right off the bed, followed by the sound of chaotic footsteps outside and the incessant slamming of doors—there was no telling what that guy was looking for.

Hui sighed helplessly. A moment later, her bedroom door swung open, and Naruto stared at her in shock as she lay on the floor wrapped in her quilt. "You... you're back? Why are you on the floor?"

Hui rolled her eyes in silence. "Get out first. We'll talk later."

"Oh... right..." Naruto retreated obediently, closing the door behind him for her. Watching him, Hui wearily climbed up to change out of her pajamas.

By the time she stepped out, Naruto was still sitting quietly in the living room. Seeing her, he rushed over anxiously and asked, "When did you get back? I was waiting for you by the bridge yesterday." Naruto paused, looking puzzled. "Huh? Wait, how did I get back?"

Hui couldn't be bothered to deal with him. She turned and walked toward the bathroom, saying flatly, "You flew back."

Naruto stood there blankly, unable to grasp what she meant, his usual dazed look returning. After a while, he snapped out of it, looked at Hui washing up in the bathroom, and scratched his head with a faint smile. It felt a lot like home.

After breakfast, the two went out to train again. After running a few laps with Naruto, Hui sat to the side to watch him. Every time Naruto passed by, he wore a look of pure frustration, but he couldn't rest—the moment he stopped, he'd get disciplined.

"Keep it up! You can do it!" Hui cheered from the sidelines with zero sincerity, a small stone in her hand serving as a blatant threat.

"Why do you get to sit there and rest!!!" Naruto shrieked at Hui, losing his mind.

"Keep it up!" Hui repeated, offering nothing more, her face plastered with a fake smile.

Naruto was nearly driven to fury, screaming as he sprinted toward the mountaintop. "AH!!!"

Hui chuckled, but still shouted toward the peak, "If you don't finish your laps today, there's no Ichiraku for you!!!"

The temptation of food was the ultimate motivator; she knew he was a little glutton, and since his economic lifeline was in her hands, Hui smirked with secret delight.

"How could you do this!" Naruto's complaint echoed from afar, startling a flock of birds into flight. The sky seemed to ring with the sound of crows cawing, "Idiot... idiot..."

Naruto finally finished his quota for the day and trudged over, panting heavily. Just as he was about to collapse to the ground, Hui reached out to steady him, teasing, "You've been practicing for so long, yet you're still this exhausted."

Naruto gave her a weak look. He felt incredibly aggrieved but lacked the strength to retort, only managing to wheeze, "I... watching you... not running... makes me tired."

"Hahaha!" Hui burst into laughter. Seeing Naruto's sour expression, she quickly comforted him, "My stamina is poor, you have to understand."

Naruto truly had no energy left to argue with Hui; his heart and mind were occupied solely by his ramen. "Ramen... ramen... I want ramen... my precious ramen!"

Listening to his dry wailing, Hui gave him a deadpan look. "I know, I know! Honestly!"

Naruto seemed to come back to life instantly, pointing at her. "You promised, no backing out!"

"When have I ever backed out? Honestly!"

Even though Naruto was as exhausted as a dead fish, he fully revived the moment he saw Ichiraku. Hui truly felt as though she were training a pet.

After eating, the two went their separate ways to train. Passing by a fish stall, the owner enthusiastically asked if she wanted to buy any fish. Hui thought for a moment, then paid for the half-dead ones and carried them off to find Kabuto.

When she met up with Kabuto, she noticed the dark circles under his eyes at a glance. What had he been doing?

Seeing Hui carrying the fish, Kabuto continued with a gloomy expression, "Why did you buy this trash again?"

Hui didn't want to argue with him anymore and said straight to the point, "Want to try?"

Kabuto paused, let out a cold snort, and took the fish. Hui followed him inside, standing behind him as she watched him treat them. To her surprise, after only a short while, the fish actually became lively and energetic.

Hui looked at Kabuto in astonishment. Even Sakura had taken three months to master this technique, yet he had done it in only two days. Still, Kabuto was a genius, and with his solid foundation, perhaps such results weren't so strange.

Hui asked out of curiosity, "How did you learn it so fast?"

Kabuto remained indifferent, saying flatly, "I already experimented on people. What's so strange about that? If you can't do it, it's because you're too stupid."

Hui was stunned for a moment. He skipped animal testing and went straight to clinical trials?

However, even though the fish were alive, they eventually became everyone's dinner. The others were noisy and bustling as they helped prepare the meal, while Kabuto watched quietly from the side. Seeing him stare for a long time, Hui curiously stepped forward and asked, "What are you thinking about?"

Kabuto glanced at her, and after a while, said flatly, "Is there really any value in saving things that are destined to die? Since they're going to die anyway, why waste the energy in the first place?"

Kabuto paused, then added, "Perhaps if they just died, they wouldn't have to endure the feeling of death again."

Hearing this, Hui's pupils widened slightly. She looked at Kabuto with surprise; although she didn't fully understand his perspective, she felt he wasn't just talking about the fish, nor was he merely discussing the value of healing.

She wanted to offer some grand wisdom, but to Kabuto, it would all be toxic positivity, because the environment he lived in lacked the very premise of peace.

Hui turned to look at the orphans bustling about with dinner. They were happy because they had fish to eat and didn't think about philosophical things like Kabuto did. But perhaps it was precisely because Kabuto was always thinking that he was different from these children.

"I can't answer that question either. But since I've followed my teacher to learn medical ninjutsu, I should do my best to inherit her mantle. Helping others and easing their pain isn't a bad thing, is it?"

"Besides, since we exist in this world, we must have some value of our own, right? Even if that value is small, or fleeting."

Kabuto turned to look at Hui, knitting his brows as he asked, "Then how are you going to find your own value?"

"What if no one recognizes your value? Or what if your value is so small, or even meaningless—can you still think that way?"

Kabuto fired off several questions, and Hui's brows grew increasingly heavy. How could she dare to give her own answer to such questions? Before realizing any value, she had been seeking power in a self-destructive way.

She had a mountain of logic and platitudes, but what Kabuto wanted was her honest answer. "I..."

Kabuto seemed a bit disappointed. He gave Hui a faint, silent sigh, then turned his gaze back to the group of children.

Hui bit her lip, her mind racing with a thousand thoughts. After a long silence, she finally spoke. "Kabuto, before you can realize the value you envision, you have to put in the effort. If you want to achieve a value higher than others, you have to put in more time than they do."

"Actually, I believe that even someone with no talent at all, if they persist in doing one thing ten thousand times, will surely see a qualitative change."

Kabuto turned to look at Hui in confusion. It wasn't that he didn't understand what she meant, but he felt the words were meaningless. The advantages brought by bloodlines in this world could not be easily compensated for by mere effort.

Hui smiled faintly, looked up at the sky, and said, "If you can't achieve a certain value, you can only be more open-minded. Isn't dwelling on it just causing yourself unnecessary trouble?"

"But everyone has something they are good at. As long as you play to your strengths and avoid your weaknesses, you can slowly see your own value."

Kabuto's furrowed brows relaxed. He glanced at Hui and said flatly, "That kind of talk sounds like it has no value at all."